Shreiner-Concord Cemetery
Stevens Grave & Memorial
Burial place of a true American hero
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Thaddeus StevensLancaster County's U.S. Representative was the most powerful congressman during the Civil War and early Reconstruction. He was a master parliamentarian, brilliant orator and passionate opponent of slavery.
His life & Times
1830s
Education & jobs advocate: * Champion of free education in Pennsylvania
* Helped establish Gettysburg College
* Aided employment with canal and railroad projects
1850s & 1860s
Political organizer: * Member of progressive wing of Whig Party
* Later led Radical Republicans in US House
1849-53 & 1859-1868
Lancaster's US Congressman: * 14th Amendment, for equality and civil liberties
* Led call for emancipation and war against the South
* Led impeachment of President Andrew Johnson
1840s-1860s
Underground Railroad activist: * Harbored freedom seekers within his properties
* Organized spies to thwart slave catchers
* Defended the accused in Resistance at Christiana, 1851
Stevens' legacyHis bequest established a trade school in Lancaster, PA now known as Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology
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Epitaph on tomb's south face: "
I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not for any natural preference for solitude. But, finding other cemeteries limited as to race by charter rules, I have chosen this that I might illustrate in my death, the principles which I advocated through a long life. Equality of man before his creator."
[ Reverse Marker ]
Shreiner-Concord Cemetery
A site of national significance
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Martin ShreinerNoted maker of fine clocks and early fire engines, this civic-minded resident established his cemetery in 1836. He later called it "an ornament to the City."
It was the only public burial place in the City of Lancaster that accepted the remains of people of all races.
More than 40 veterans are buried here, mostly from the Civil War [1861-65].
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